tango is not for three
by elm23
Summary: They thought a love triangle was for middle school and tv shows, but clearly they were wrong.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everybody...it's been quite a while since I've had anything to say or a story I've wanted to write. I still don't know if I'm entirely up for diving back into the fanfiction world, but I felt inspired and decided to give it a shot. This is a story based on the characters from Girl Meets World and it will be a Lucas x Maya story even though it may not seem like it for a while. The story is entirely planned out, but not written, so my plan is to see what kind of response I get and then go from there.

I hope everyone likes the first chapter and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! Please let me know if there is any confusion with the timeline!

* * *

 ** _January 1, 2016_**

 _Lucas carefully sat between the two girls, trying not to get too close to either and silently wishing he could have followed everyone back to the apartment below._

" _It's midnight…" Maya quietly said, refusing to look anywhere but the ground underneath her feet._

 _Riley replied, as fireworks ringing in the New Year went off around them, "And here we are…"_

* * *

 ** _December 31, 2019_**

The skyline looked the same as it had three years ago, with the city waiting on baited breath for the clock to strike midnight and a new year to begin. The party too looked the same—the same mix of friends with a few new ones added here and there, all looking a little older, but otherwise just the same.

As an upbeat pop song came on over the speakers, Riley Matthews stepped out onto her rooftop as the party went on around her. She had to admit that over the years she had gotten pretty good at this sort of thing—streamers and balloons, hosting and schmoozing. Though, a frown appeared across her face when she realized her best friend was nowhere to be found. She understood when she was not at the party earlier, Maya always liked to make an entrance, but it was close to midnight and the blonde was nowhere.

Glancing at her phone, there were no new messages, which was strange. Riley knew Maya had been distant lately, but she never thought she would miss the party.

She saw Lucas talking with Farkle and Smackle across the rooftop, and she made a beeline for them. "Have either of you talked to Maya? She's not here yet and I'm worried."

Lucas awkwardly cleared his throat and said, "She wasn't sure if she could make it. I talked to her earlier and she thought she may have a cold."

Riley frowned, "Oh. She didn't tell me about that."

"You know Maya, she never wants to look weak. And she probably felt bad for missing your party, Riles, I mean, clearly it's a hit!" Farkle gestured to the crowded rooftop around him to illustrate his point.

"I guess…she usually gets grumpy when she's sick so it would make sense for her to go AWOL. She's probably annoyed it happened on New Year's Eve, which is practically her favorite holiday, a time for new beginnings and all that."

"Well we're close to midnight, Smackle and I need to prepare for our kiss." Farkle grabbed Smackle by the hand as they quickly walked away, leaving Riley and Lucas standing alone in the corner.

"I don't think I want to know what he means by 'prepare'."

"I'm just pretending it just means putting on chapstick and nothing more than that."

Lucas chuckled as he hugged his jacket closer around his body. Standing there, so close to Riley, was making him nervous. She kept glancing at him, but neither quite knew what to say.

"So…I heard you came with Charlie?"

She laughed, "That's an interesting way to put it. I invited him, just like everyone else."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to imply o-or…" he stuttered, "I just know he still likes you, so I figured you inviting him here meant something."

"I guess I just needed someone to kiss at midnight. After the whole thing with Leo…Maya has just been trying to convince me to get out more, so naturally I went back to Charlie." She laughed, "We both agreed we'll start as friends and figure things out from there."

"Considering midnight is like, very soon, shouldn't you be with him now?"

"Huh. Actually, yes." She looked around the rooftop curiously, but couldn't see Charlie anywhere. "Yet another person I've lost, I swear I'm zero for two today."

"Yeah…" Lucas trailed off awkwardly, and again, the two felt the awkward silence envelop them.

Distantly, the pair began to hear shouts of a countdown as midnight got closer. " _Sixty…fifty-nine…fifty-eight…"_

"You should probably go find him, I wouldn't want you to miss your midnight kiss."

"What about you? No one should ring the new year in alone!"

"Oh, I'll be fine. It's probably better for me to start the year off alone, maybe my life will be less complicated."

" _Forty-one…forty…thirty-nine…"_

"Lucas Friar, from what I can tell, your life needs more drama in it. Maya says everyone can use drama, or else life is boring. That's why everyone still watches _Keeping Up with the Kardashians_."

"Trust me, I've had too much drama for one year," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing," Lucas said, shrugging it off. "Trust me, go find Charlie, start your year off right. Be happy."

" _Twenty-two…twenty-one..twenty…"_

Riley felt her heart beating a mile a minute as she contemplated staying or leaving. This was the moment, the one she had been waiting for since she first met Lucas, now or never.

She turned her head and looked up at Lucas, who was gazing out onto the New York City skyline. He was the boy she had loved since that day on the subway, and this was her chance.

" _Ten…nine…eight…"_

"Lucas."

He looked down at her questioningly, "Yeah?"

" _Six…five…four…"_

"What if I want to be happy with you?"

" _Three…two…one…"_

Then she kissed him as shouts of "Happy New Year!" rang out around them.

Lucas felt frozen to the spot he was in and kissed her back in a haze of fireworks. As she pulled away, his mind couldn't process what had just happened. Riley looked sheepish, as a blush crept up on her cheeks. "Sorry, I thought that would be good idea. Now I'm just embarrassed."

"No, it's fine. It was…nice. Really nice."

"I agree, it was…nice." She smiled as she tried to figure out what was going through his head, but all she saw was shock.

"Riley?"

The brunette whipped her head around and broke into a mega-watt smile, as her best friend had finally decided to show her face at her party. "Maya! Where the hell have you been? You are never one to miss a party, especially a New Year's Eve party!"

Maya shrugged, "You know me, things to do, people to see. The party seems to be going well though, I see you took my advice to ditch the piñata." She gingerly took a step forward toward her friend and Lucas, who had quickly taken a few steps back when he realized she was there. She cocked her head and gave him a questioning look, but he kept his eyes glued firmly to the ground.

Riley wrapped the blonde in a tight hug. "How long have you been here?"

"I literally just walked in. Unfortunately I missed the whole midnight thing, but hopefully everyone still has some party left in them." She gave Riley a quick hug back, but then quickly extracted herself. She had walked into something weird and it was giving her a bad feeling.

Riley smiled sympathetically as Maya continued, "I'm going to grab something to drink downstairs. I'll leave you two alone."

She turned to leave, when the brunette quickly grabbed her arm. "Wait! I'll come with you! Lucas, you don't mind, do you?"

He waved them off as Riley and Maya walked off. Maya was desperately trying to look anywhere else but her friend as they made their way back to the apartment below. As soon as the door closed behind them, Riley exclaimed, "Oh my god! I have to tell you something!"

Maya stooped down to sift through the drinks in the ice cooler as she casually replied, "What?"

"I kissed Lucas!"

She whipped her head around in shock, "You did what?"

"I know! It was midnight and it just happened! I've never been that spontaneous before, but it just felt so right!"

Maya felt the color drain from her face and she gripped the diet coke harder to keep herself from dropping it. She took a couple deep breaths before steadying herself to answer. "That's…great."

Riley's eyes went wide. "You're okay with this right? I would never have done it if I thought you still liked him. You've been telling me for years that you're totally over him so I just assumed it was okay! Oh god, are you mad? Please don't be mad!"

"Oh, no it's totally fine! I was just surprised is all; I didn't think that was ever going to happen between you two. What happens next?"

"I have no idea." Riley flung herself onto the couch as Maya cautiously sat next to her. "I'm really hoping he wants to date, I just really feel like it's the right time now."

"That's really good…really good. Why don't you head back up there and talk things over with him, I'm sure he wants to see you."

"That's a great idea." Riley stood up from the couch and headed toward the entrance to the roof. "You coming?"

Maya smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'll give you a head start. It's probably not a conversation I should be involved in. Plus, I need to run to restroom really quick."

Riley nodded and left Maya behind as she headed back to Lucas. Maya sighed and quickly made her way across the apartment to the restroom. She gingerly closed the door behind her and slowly slid to the floor, wrapping her arms around her knees. The smile she had on her face for Riley's sake slowly faded into a frown as contemplated everything she had heard.

All she really knew was that everything that had happened this year was worth nothing and she never wanted to talk to Lucas again.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you to everyone who showed interest in this story! Just a couple things to clear up: flashbacks will take place over their sophomore/junior years in high school and the present day started halfway through their junior year. A couple people asked if this was a Lucas x Maya story and the answer is yes, however, I have no issues with Lucas x Riley which is why you'll see a bit of them for a while. And just a warning, I prefer writing angst over romance, so if that isn't your thing, I won't be offended if you stop reading!

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm not one to beg for reviews or to hold out chapters until I get a certain amount, but I can say that I tend to write faster if I know people are reading on the other side, so I really appreciate everyone who left their thoughts on the last chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Girl Meets World.

* * *

 _January 14, 2020_

It had been two weeks since Maya had felt at all normal. It had also been two weeks since she had seen or talked to any of her friends, which would have bothered her in any other circumstance except for the one she was in.

She had left Riley's party after five minutes of sitting on the bathroom floor willing herself not to cry and she provided little explanation to her friends about her quick exit other than a short group text saying she felt "sick". When her mom found her crying in her room the next morning, she held her tightly and let her cry until the tears stopped coming. Then, Katy Hart pulled her daughter up and helped her pack a suitcase—she decided to allow Maya to stay with Shawn until her heart stopped hurting a little less.

It was easy to live with Shawn. After all, he practically lived with them when he was in town, so it wasn't like this was anything new. In fact, ever since Shawn had proposed to her mom six months ago, Maya doubted he had spent a single night in his own bed, but his apartment was nice. It was small, but it had a lot of light and she spent most of those two weeks sketching whatever came to mind. She mostly drew places they had been together or things they had done, all the while trying to figure out if she had misinterpreted an entire year spent together as something more than it was. Maya didn't think she was that stupid, but then again, Lucas had kissed her best friend up on the rooftop, not her.

Maya was sitting in the kitchen, her mind racing with all the same thoughts, when her mom walked in carrying two coffee cups. Katy smiled at her daughter and handed her the smaller of the two cups and asked, "Feeling better?"

"No."

"Maya, baby…it's time for you to get out of this funk and come home with me. You've had two weeks to be sad and now it's time to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and face the world."

Maya placed her latte on the counter and continued drawing, this time she was thinking about the homecoming dance where Lucas had first held her close. She refused to look at her mom, who was waiting for an answer expectantly. "I just don't want to go back yet."

"Okay, I was hoping you would say you were ready to come back so I wouldn't have to say this next part. The semester started yesterday, and as much as I love you, and as much as I wish I could make everything okay for you, you have to go back to school. I'll give you one more day, but you have to be back at school on Thursday."

"Mom-,"

Katy was quick to cut her off, "No. Maya Hart, your "flu" will better by Thursday, are we clear?"

Maya sighed, but knew it was pointless to argue. She knew she wasn't going to get away with missing school for long. And considering her full voicemail box and the seemingly hundreds of texts she was getting from her friends, she knew it was only a matter of time before they tracked her down. She looked up at her mom and nodded in agreement.

Katy looked relieved, she never liked being the parent when it meant hurting her kid. She took a sip of her coffee as she watched her daughter sketch in her notebook. She gently squeezed Maya's shoulder. "Oh, and please call Riley and tell her you're coming back soon. She's in the café every single day, constantly asking where you are. Please, you would be doing me such a big favor. I may actually go home without a headache if you can get her to stop asking me questions."

"I'll call her today, I promise."

"Okay. I have to get going to work, are you going to be okay here alone? Shawn is cooking dinner tonight, but he said he won't be home until this evening and I won't be here until after my shift."

"Mom, I'll be fine. Thank you for worrying, but I'm good here." Maya offered her mom and smile Katy leaned in to kiss her cheek.

"I love you, baby. Call me if you need anything!"

"I love you too, mom," she replied, as her mom gave her a small wave and closed the door to the apartment behind her.

And then the apartment was quiet again.

After a few minutes more of sketching, Maya realized she should probably call Riley before her mom made it to work. Knowing her best friend, she would be waiting there to pester Katy with more questions.

She reached for her phone that was so full of unanswered messages, she was surprised it still worked. Maya dialed the number she knew by heart and waited for an answer.

It only took two rings for Riley to pick up and when she did, she sounded breathless. "Maya?"

"Hey Riley."

"Peaches! I was so worried!"

Maya couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for being unreachable. None of what happened was Riley's fault and she never deserved to be ignored. "I'm so sorry. I was just feeling really sick and it was much better for me to be alone. I promise it won't happen again."

"Well, can I come see you? Where are you? Your mom said you were at home but your light is never on so I don't really believe her. Unless you've been staying on the couch, which is entirely possible, but probably uncomfortable. I can be there in ten minutes if you just say the word, well five if I run, which I totally will. I missed you so much!"

Riley spoke so fast and without taking the time to take a breath that it made Maya laugh. Two weeks was definitely too long to go without talking to her best friend. "I'm staying at Shawn's, I didn't want to get my mom sick. And I'm still not totally better so you shouldn't come see me, but I'll be back at school on Thursday."

"Oh okay…but you shouldn't be contagious anymore, right? I mean, whatever you had, if you're coming back on Thursday, you should be fine."

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm just tired is all. I'll probably go to take a nap in a little bit."

"Okay, I can let you go. I just…" Riley was quiet for a moment before sighing, "Was this about Lucas? That's all I've been thinking about lately, that I haven't seen you since I told you I kissed him."

Maya froze with the phone to her ear as she scrambled for an answer. "No, Riley. It's all just a crazy coincidence. Lucas is only a friend to me and that's the only way I've seen him for a long time. I'm happy for you, really."

Riley seemed content with that answer. Maya could practically feel her happiness through the phone. "We're together, like, officially. He asked me last week, with flowers and everything. He said he'd been waiting to kiss me for so long and he was so happy I finally did."

"That's really great, it's about time! But, uh, Riles I have to go, someone is at the door," Maya lied, hoping to get out of talking about her best friend's relationship without seeming suspicious.

"Oh okay! I'll see you soon, peaches!" Riley said happily, trying to quickly get her last words in before Maya hung up her phone.

"Yeah, see you soon." Then she hung up the phone. She took a couple deep breaths as she stared down at her half-finished sketch.

Maya remembered the day as if it was yesterday. She was wearing a pink dress that her mom had picked out and she hated, and she was wearing heels for the first time that her mom had picked out and she hated. But she agreed to the outfit because her mom had cried when she stood in front of her to model it. She had gone to the dance with Carter Zane, a senior who had given her a corsage that clashed with her dress, but was a really good kisser.

* * *

 _September 28, 2018_

 _Carter had just left to go drink with his friends in the parking lot and after he had whispered an invitation in her ear, which she politely declined, she was left standing alone at the homecoming dance, like something out of a clichéd John Hughes movie._

 _She felt a hand on her lower back and she turned to see Lucas smiling down at her. "What happened to Mr. Homecoming King?"_

" _He's in the parking lot with the rest of his homecoming court, they came prepared with water bottles full of vodka, just like true teenagers."_

" _And he left you all alone?"_

" _Yes, Ranger Rick. Believe it or not, but us northern gals don't need boys all the time." Maya gave him a soft punch in the arm as he laughed._

" _Well, pretty girl, since your date is out of sight, could I have this dance?" Lucas extended his hand._

 _Maya accepted his offer and placed her hand in his. She found it hard to ignore the butterflies in her stomach and the spark of electricity that flowed through their hands. As he led her out to the dance floor, she found herself asking, "Where's Riley?"_

" _She went with Farkle to argue over constellations or something. She'll be back soon."_

 _Lucas wrapped his arms around her waist as she wrapped hers around his neck. They started swaying to the slow song as Maya quietly asked, "So, what? We have like one song before we pretend this never happened?"_

" _Maya…"_

" _Please, let's just not talk."_

" _You're the one who's here with someone else. You're the one who didn't want us to turn into something real."_

" _And you're here with Riley! I'm here with someone else because of Riley."_

" _We're here as friends, you know that. She asked you if it was okay, I asked you if it was okay. You decided to come with the homecoming king, when you knew I would have gone with you."_

 _Maya scoffed as she refused to look him in the eye. "This is ridiculous. I don't care that you came with Riley, it's fine. You can date her for all I care, I'm just tired of our friendship being an issue around Riley. I've moved on from you, but I don't want to feel guilty for being your friend when every second Riley asks me if I still like you."_

 _Lucas sighed as Maya rested her head on his shoulder. He didn't quite know what to say in response. She was right—they were all "friends", whatever that meant, but Riley's voice still took on a high-pitched squeak whenever she thought for a second her best friend still liked him._

 _They stood there swaying to the music, wrapped in each other arms as Coldplay's "Fix You" was playing over the speakers._

" _When you're too in love to let it go…but if you never try you'll never know…just what you're worth…lights will guide you home…and ignite your bones…and I will try to fix you…"_

 _Lucas put a finger under her chin, to bring her eyes up to his. "Okay, let's be friends. Normal friends who do normal things and don't worry about it turning into anything else. We don't worry about Riley or anything else. I want to be your friend, Maya."_

 _Maya smiled and nodded, "Okay. If you can do it, I can do it."_

 _Lucas grinned back and before he knew what he was doing, he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. She didn't even have time to be shocked before she saw Carter entering the dance out of the corner of her eye. She cleared her throat and quickly disentangled herself from Lucas's arms. She willed herself to look into his eyes, which were practically begging her to stay, but she shook her head slightly and gave his hand a tight squeeze before leaving to join Carter at their table._

 _If Maya had turned around, she would have seen Lucas's grin slip into a frown as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked back to his own table. Though if they both had turned around, they would have seen a very confused Riley on the other side of the dance floor._

* * *

 _January 15, 2020_

Maya had one more day of freedom before she was going to be forced to face Riley with her new boyfriend. She had attempted to convince her mom one more time the night before that she needed another week in isolation, but Katy was having none of it.

Today she had spent the day binge watching Grey's Anatomy on the couch, so she was surprised to hear a knock on the door in the afternoon. She got up and opened the door, but her eyes went wide with surprise when she saw who was on the other side.

She quickly tried to slam the door, but she was too late, as Lucas quickly put his arm in the doorframe. "Maya. Give me five minutes to talk to you."

Maya knew there was no way he was going to leave without his five minutes, so she reluctantly released her grip on the door, but didn't invite him inside. "How did you find me?"

"Riley told me," Lucas said guiltily.

Maya's eyes narrowed. "Of course, I should have known your _girlfriend_ would let it slip."

"You have to know, I never meant for any of it to happen. New Year's just…you weren't there and she caught me off guard and I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to say no to her."

"You have got to be kidding me. Do not blame this on Riley. She may have kissed you first, but she didn't know about us, she has no blame in any of this. It was my fault and your fault, but then it became totally your fault when you asked her to be your girlfriend. You didn't have to do that!" Maya's eyes were fiery as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"I was waiting for you to back me up, we would talk to her together, but you disappeared off the face of the earth, so yeah, I asked her out." Lucas was getting defensive too, as the electricity between the two was palpable. But Maya wasn't backing down.

"Get out, now," she said dangerously. "You don't get to blame me for this. It's pretty easy not to ask someone out, you just don't do it. Riley is my best friend in this whole word and I want her to be happy. She will never know anything that happened between us and you are going to be the best boyfriend ever."

"Maya-," Lucas tried to interject, but she cut him off.

"Get out, Lucas. And don't expect me to talk to you again."

Lucas had backed up enough for Maya to slam the door in his face, and she did so just as she saw hurt flash across his eyes.

Once again, Maya found herself sliding to the floor and burying her face in her hands, willing the tears to come.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello to anyone still reading. It has been quite a while, which I apologize for. I got incredibly busy with real life and unfortunately I had to let my creative writing fall by the wayside. Here is the next chapter for anyone who is still interested in the story. I got inspired again after watching the series finale, mostly because I am still holding out hope that some other company or channel would pick it up. In the event that doesn't occur, I guess we'll always have our stories.

Updates will still not be coming fast, but I do have the entire story planned out so I hope to get the whole story out eventually! I'm currently finishing up school, so I do have to put that first, but I promise not to go eight months without an update again. I always appreciate reviews and feedback, so please do so if you feel so inclined! But as a reminder, this is a Lucas/Maya story at the end of the day, even if it may not seem like it initially.

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Girl Meets World.**

* * *

 _January 15, 2020_

"Shit. Shit. Shit!"

Lucas buried his face in his hands as he stood in front of the door that was just slammed in his face by Maya, cursing under his breath. He knew she would be furious at him, but he thought he'd at least make it through the door.

He contemplated trying again, perhaps with a little more charm he could persuade her to invite him inside so he convince her that he wasn't the bad guy, but he knew it was useless. When Maya got stubborn there was no convincing her to change her mind—and he had seen the fire in her eyes. She was angry. If he tried again, there was a good chance he would probably end up with a black eye, as Maya had an excellent right hook.

Instead, he turned on his heel, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walked away from the girl his heart was aching for, wishing he could go back to a time when he could have been walking toward her.

* * *

 _December 24, 2018_

 _It was raining outside. Lucas could hear the large pellets of rain beat hard against the window as he busied himself in the kitchen. His parents were upstairs watching some Christmas movie, an event he would normally join in on, but tonight he had different plans._

 _It was warm inside his house, despite the rain. He watched as the fire flickered from the living room and cast shadows across the room. But he couldn't help but think about her—think about her all alone in her small apartment and wonder if she was cold. The Matthews had gone to Philadelphia for the week, to spend time with Mr. Matthew's whole family. Maya was invited, but he knew, and everyone knew, she would never leave her mom alone for the holidays, even if it meant she was alone most of the time while her mom worked._

 _He stared out the window at the pouring rain as he tried to determine the best way to get to her. His mom would never let him take the car out in the thunderstorm and the cost to take a taxi all the way to Maya's house was probably more than the entirety of his bank account._

' _The subway it is,' he thought, shuddering at the thought of getting drenched by the rain. But he gathered up his things anyway, yelled a quick goodbye accompanied by a flimsy excuse to his parents about going to Zay's to exchange presents and opened his front door._

 _An umbrella barely did anything to assuage the onslaught of rain that met him as he stepped outside. He shoved his backpack under his jacket as best as he could and practically ran the three blocks to the nearest subway station. Fifteen minutes later, and extremely wet, Lucas found himself standing in front of her front door and raising his fist to knock as hard as possible._

 _He watched the door crack open in front of him and Maya's face appeared. She broke into a smile when she realized who the visitor was. "Hey Ranger Rick. You look a little wet."_

" _Please let me in, I'm freezing my ass off out here!"_

 _She just laughed and opened the door further, allowing Lucas to walk through. "So, what are you doing here?"_

" _Well…," he paused as he tried to wipe the water from his face and pulled his backpack out from underneath his jacket. "I sort of brought you something."_

 _Her eyes lit up. "A present?"_

" _Sort of. I brought you cookies…." Lucas reached into his backpack and handed her a Ziploc bag full of different shaped sugar cookies—Santa hats, Christmas trees, and snowmen. He watched as she reached out for the bag, a huge grin growing on her face. She immediately reached in and pulled out a snowman._

 _Taking a bite, she exclaimed, "This is so good!"_

" _Really?"_

" _Yes!"_

" _I'm glad you like them. I know you don't really do the whole Santa thing on Christmas, but everyone needs to have cookies on Christmas Eve."_

" _They're perfect, thank you Lucas." The blonde smiled and made her way to the couch where she settled in and pulled her blanket tight around her body. "Thank you for coming."_

" _You're mom is working tonight?"_

" _Yeah…it sucks, but we need the money. The diner is letting her work for the night since Topanga's isn't open."_

 _Lucas stripped his coat and awkwardly sat himself next to her, trying not to get too close or to get her wet, as he was still damp from the rain. "So…good choice that I came?"_

" _Very."_

" _What do you want to do?"_

 _She shrugged and glanced at the TV. "I was watching It's A Wonderful Life. I could start it over and we could watch it?"_

 _Lucas nodded. As she busied herself with the remote, he shivered slightly. He was right about how cold her apartment was, as his hands were not warming up at all. Maya noticed and quickly untangled herself from the large blanket and instead draped it over the two of them. "Sorry," she said quietly, "we can't run the heater too high."_

 _He quickly waved it off and used the blanket as an excuse to get closer to her. As the opening credits played across the screen, he gingerly adjusted his position so that she was leaning up against him. The two teenagers sat quietly and watched their movie, both content to be in each other's company for the night._

 _When Katy Hart arrived home late that night, she smiled at the scene she saw as she walked through the door. Both Lucas and Maya were sleeping peacefully next to each other, hands entwined, as the light from the television flickered across their faces._

* * *

 _January 15, 2020_

By the time he reached Topanga's, he could see Riley anxiously waiting for him through the window. He could see her sitting on the couch, her leg bouncing up and down as she tried her hardest to focus on the book she was reading. Initially she had demanded to go with him to track Maya down, but Lucas had managed to convince her that her energy may be a little much for her if she was still recovering from the flu. Riley had relented in her demands on the condition that he give a full report on Maya upon his return.

She spotted him the second he walked through the threshold into the café. "Lucas!" she exclaimed, jumping up from her spot on the couch and pouncing on her boyfriend. "How's Maya? Is she sick? Is she better? Did she say why she's not talking to me? How is she?"

Lucas could not help but laugh at Riley's insistence and softly kissed her cheek. He then took a quiet breath as he prepared himself to lie. "Maya seems good. She was a little pale, I think from the flu, but she seemed okay to me, just pretty tired. I really wasn't there for very long, but it was probably good you didn't go, you may have been a little much for her."

He led his girlfriend back to her spot on the couch and gingerly sat next to her. He noticed Farkle sitting in the chair next to him and gave him a slight nod as he turned back to Riley, who he noticed was frowning at him. "What? Maya's fine, I promise. You'll see her tomorrow."

Riley appraised her boyfriend before crossing her arms across her chest. "Fine. But I swear, if I don't see her tomorrow, I will go find her."

"Oh, I think we all believe you," Farkle chuckled. "I'm actually surprised that you haven't tracked her down already."

"Well, clearly not being able to find her for two weeks didn't exactly help. But she asked me not to go to Shawn's and I didn't want to push her. So here I am, sitting here and going crazy."

"Riley-,"

"And I think this all has to do with New Year's Eve," she said, talking right over Farkle's interjection. "Things were fine before that. Maya might have been acting a little weird, but we were fine. And then I tell her I kissed Lucas and she disappears! For two weeks! Then, I finally get her on the phone and the second I told her about our relationship, she shut down and hung up. She is shutting me out. She hates me for dating you, Lucas…"

She let out a deep breath as she finished her rant. "I just don't want her to hate me."

Farkle just shook his head in laughter as Riley sat on the couch, arms folded and pouting. "You are completely overreacting. Maya has been sick, that's it. Do you really think she'd shut you out over who you date? I'm pretty sure that's quite literally impossible."

"I never thought that she would, but things feel different now. She's been pulling away from me for a while…but I guess you could be right. I mean she hated Leo and she never let me forget it, but it wasn't like she shut me out then, even when I thought she might. And she didn't look very good the last time I saw her, so I guess she could be sick."

"See, told you."

Riley turned to Lucas, startling him out of his own thoughts. "Did something happen between the two of you?"

"W-what?"

"Did something happen? Did she tell you she liked you or something? I mean she is really direct with things like that. She wouldn't have told me because of our history, but I know she would be honest with you if she did. So, did she tell you she liked you and now she's embarrassed?"

"Riley!" Farkle exclaimed, still laughing. "You are literally making yourself crazy. Just let it go and stop making up crazy theories."

Riley had turned her attention on her friend, but she sighed and focused back on Lucas. "I promise, this is the last crazy theory I come up with. I know I sound like I'm grasping for straws, but Maya doesn't shut me out. Not when she's sick or angry or upset. So what's happening now isn't like her and I just need you to answer my question before I let it go."

Lucas looked into Riley's expectant eyes and knew her heart would break if he told her the truth.

So he lied. "No, of course not. She didn't tell me anything like that."

She frowned, but true to her word she let it go and simply said, "Okay."

Farkle reached out and squeezed her hand as Lucas tried to avoid eye contact with both of them at all costs. "I know it's hard, but I have a feeling the two of you will be back to normal tomorrow. Just like you can't go very long without her, there is no way she can go very long without you."

Riley offered him a weak smile before retreating deep into thought. As Farkle got up to order another coffee, Lucas took the time to look at his girlfriend. He could see the emotion across her face—her worry, her fear and her longing for her best friend back. Her brow was knitted together and she closed her eyes, probably trying to escape her own thoughts.

"Hey," he whispered into her ear as she leaned into his chest. "Everything is going to be okay."

She turned her face upward slightly so that she caught his gaze. "You sure?"

"Yeah. Tomorrow everything will be okay. Maya will come back and you'll call her Peaches and she'll call you Pumpkin and everything will be okay."

"Okay," she whispered, nuzzling back into his chest.

Lucas felt her lace her fingers through his as they sat side by side on the couch. Her thoughts were so loud he could practically hear them. He knew the whole situation was his fault. He knew that as soon as he asked Riley out it was game over for the three of them—things would never be the same. But a couple of days after New Year's Riley had come to his house and looked at him with her big brown eyes so expectantly that he couldn't help but just take the easy way out. In that moment, Riley was the easy choice. He liked her, he maybe even loved her and she was there when Maya wasn't. Riley was easy and simple and didn't make him want to tear his hair out. Being with Riley was just easy.

And Maya? Maya was hard.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I'm probably just as surprised as all of you that I actually got this out within the week. I actually had a lot more fun writing this chapter than past chapters, which is why I was able to get it out quicker than usual. Though word of warning, I literally have all of my midterms this week plus several work events, which means the next chapter probably won't be so fast.

I hope you all enjoy and as always, if you feel inclined, I would love reviews!

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Girl Meets World_

* * *

 _January 16, 2020_

'You can do it,' she thought to herself, as she stood outside Riley's apartment. Maya was bundled up in as many layers as she could fit on her body to protect herself against the terribly cold New York winter weather, but she still just stood there instead of going inside to the warmth. She hated the cold, but somehow the cold was much more appealing than facing her best friend.

She didn't even know how long she had been standing outside before she finally started to make her way toward Riley's building. One step at a time, Maya climbed up the fire escape before she found herself outside her bedroom window. She smiled as she saw Riley attempting to curl her hair while at the same time bouncing around her room, dancing to her favorite Taylor Swift song.

Maya tapped on the window, loud enough to be heard over the music, and watched as the brunette's face lit up as soon as she saw her.

"Maya!" she exclaimed excitedly, quickly opening her window to allow Maya to crawl through. "I thought I wouldn't see you until school!"

"I thought I'd surprise you! Make up for being so out of it the past couple of weeks."

"Well, I am so glad you did. I really, really missed you, Peaches."

Maya smiled and reached out her hand to grasp Riley's. "I really, really missed you too."

"So you're feeling all better? All set to go and take on the brand new year? Because it's been a really crappy two weeks without you, so I say the New Year doesn't even start officially until now." Riley was bouncing on the balls of her feet out of excitement, her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"I feel great, really great, but I know you hate me for disappearing. I am so sorry for being a terrible friend."

She waved her off. "It's fine. I'm over it. Like I said, everything gets to start today!"

"Are you almost ready to go? We're going to be late if you take any longer!"

"Oh!" she exclaimed, eyes going wide. "Shoot, yes. Let me just finish my hair really quick. Why don't you meet me in the kitchen? I think my mom made pancakes, you could grab some before we leave!"

Riley went back to busying herself with her curling iron, humming happily to herself in the mirror. The blonde smiled and nodded, then headed out the door toward the delicious smell of Topanga's pancakes. As she rounded the corner, Topanga glanced up from the newspaper she was reading and gave her a soft smile. "Oh thank goodness you're here. Riley was going out of her mind."

Maya just laughed and helped herself to breakfast. "Yeah, sorry about that. I probably shouldn't have disappeared. It won't happen again, I promise."

Topanga handed the young girl the syrup as she sat down. "It's okay—it's always okay to need space, Maya. Especially with what happened between Riley and Lucas, that must be hard on you."

"What? Lucas and….no. No way, it had nothing to do with that. I was just sick."

"Uh huh," the older woman replied, nodding her head like she didn't quite believe her. "Look, I don't want to get into your business, but I'm also not blind and, eventually, Riley won't be either, sweetheart. It's okay to feel the way you do, you shouldn't have to hide it to keep from hurting her feelings."

"It's a little too late for that now," Maya muttered, picking at the food in front of her.

"It's never too late." Topanga stood from her seat and swung her briefcase over her shoulder. "Well, I'm off for the day. Tell my lovely daughter I love her. And Maya? I hope you being here means that you're going to be around more again."

Maya nodded. "See ya, Mrs. Matthews."

Riley had come down to the kitchen shortly after her mom had left and Maya was grateful for her timing. The last thing she needed was for her to overhear a conversation like that. They had taken the subway to school like always and chatted away like no time had passed. Maya couldn't help but feel relieved that Riley didn't seem to catch on to any of her awkwardness. She figured that it was a pretty good start to what was probably going to become a shit show.

As they walked through the doors of the high school, Maya could literally sense him before she saw him. She hated the fact that part of their so-called relationship was apparently still going strong. He came around the corner the same time she and Riley had walked through the front door and, as if in slow motion, their eyes met across the hall.

It felt like one of those stupid movie moments that she didn't believe existed. At least, she didn't believe they existed until last year—the last time Lucas had the nerve to turn their lives into a romantic comedy.

* * *

 _April 13, 2019_

 _It had been almost four months since Lucas had showed up to her house on Christmas Eve. They both pretty much pretended that they hadn't fallen asleep on her couch holding hands and went about their normal lives. It definitely made for quite a moment when they had both woken up around one in the morning and Lucas had awkwardly left the apartment._

 _In the months since, they were nothing more than friends. No hand holding, no deep conversations, they were both just friends. Friends of Riley, to be specific. Riley, meanwhile, had started dating Leo—a complete douche who was a year older than them and pretty much the worst person in the world. He was a brooding soccer player who thought the entire world revolved around him and never let his girlfriends forget it. Riley was just next in the line of poor girls who inevitably got their hearts broken._

 _But Riley didn't really want to hear that. Hence the reason why Maya was now standing in the middle of a crowded house party, rooted to the spot, as her best friend stormed away from her._

 _She may have gone a little too far in her insults about Riley's new boyfriend, but she blamed most of it on the copious amount of alcohol she had consumed that evening. Now she was left swaying to the loud music, sweaty teenagers all around her, wishing she hadn't said a single word to Riley._

 _Maya jumped when she felt a hand grasp her shoulder. She turned around to see Lucas smiling down at her, his eyes slightly glassy. "I see you found the beer."_

" _I could say the same to you," he laughed. "What's up with you and Riles?"_

" _I may or may not have told her that Leo was an ass who was going to dump her the second ditzy cheerleader Julie dropped her skirt for him."_

" _Maya…"_

" _I know, I know. I was a bitch. I'll fix it tomorrow." She realized that Lucas had led her to a corner in the house, so that they didn't have to yell at each other in order to be heard. "What's up with you? Didn't you come with…what's her face?"_

" _Jenny."_

 _"Right...Jenny. Cute name."_

 _"Don't worry, I don't think we're going to work out. She's nice, but not really my type."_

 _Maya looked up at him, biting her lip. He was looking at her like she was the only person in the room. "And who's your type?"_

 _She wasn't sure if it was the alcohol coursing through her system or…actually, it was definitely the alcohol. She felt her walls go down and her insecurities disappear. She was flirting with him hard and she really didn't want to stop._

" _Well…" he said coyly, "There's this certain blonde that I'm a little partial to."_

 _Maya was suddenly very aware of how exposed they were at the party. They may have been in a dark corner, but Riley could easily see them if she was in the room and Maya knew she wasn't nearly drunk enough to have that conversation. "Want to walk me home?"_

 _Lucas looked surprised, but just nodded his head. He placed his hand on her lower back as they both stumbled out of the house. They were both giggling since neither of them seemingly were able to stand up straight and Maya found herself looping her arm through his to steady herself._

 _They somehow made it across the city and somehow managed not to get lost on the subway. The young couple stood outside of Maya's house, both unsure of what to say._

" _Sorry for making you leave early."_

" _You didn't make me and I have to be home soon anyway. Plus, adventuring through the subway system was way more fun than having the entire football team shoved up against me."_

 _Maya smiled and started to untangle herself from Lucas. "I better head inside. If I'm lucky, my mom will be asleep and she won't have to know that I was ever drunk."_

 _Lucas pulled her close to him, surprising her and preventing her from walking through her front door. "I'm going to kiss you."_

" _You probably shouldn't."_

" _Probably."_

 _But he started to lean toward her anyway, even when she said, "Riley is going to be pissed."_

 _His lips slowly met hers, gently and unsure. She could feel herself melting into him and she wrapped her arms around his neck._

 _He was perfect._

 _Everything about him in that moment was perfect. Again, it was probably all due to the alcohol—she could feel it rushing through her body, making her warm. Lucas wrapped his arms around her as he deepened the kiss, but that's when she pulled away._

 _Slightly breathless, she murmured, "I'm going inside now before…before this goes farther."_

" _Maya—," he started, trying to stop her._

" _No, I need to clear my head. I'm drunk and you're drunk and my mom is inside and I can't deal with this now, okay?"_

" _Okay."_

" _Okay." She placed a kiss on his cheek and slowly turned away from him as she walked into her house. Maya lightly touched her now swollen lips and thought about what had just transpired._

 _She knew she was so screwed._

* * *

 _January 16, 2020_

Lucas walked up to the two girls and cleared his throat. "Uh, hey. Welcome back, Maya."

"Thanks," she said curtly, then continued her walk through the hallway toward her locker. Riley followed quickly behind her, grabbing her boyfriend's hand to drag him along.

Maya opened her locker, refusing to look at the sweet couple standing next to her, painfully aware of Lucas's attempts to catch her eye. She was gathering what she needed for her first two periods and said, "I'm going to head to homeroom. I should probably talk to Mr. Matthews about what I've missed."

"We'll go with you!"

"Riley, it's fine. You shouldn't have to be in the classroom until you absolutely have to. Just wait for Zay and everyone and I'll just see you in there."

Riley frowned, but relented. "Fine."

The rest of the morning had gone by rather smoothly and uneventfully. She was given piles of homework by all of her teachers because apparently missing the first couple days of the first week was unimaginable. Everything was going well, at least, until English.

Only she and Lucas shared the class together, which was fine because he knew not to try and talk to her and none of their friends were there to force it. Except in this particular English class, their teacher thought it would be a great idea to assign a project, one that required partners.

"Okay, class, your project for the semester has to do with word associations. Throughout the semester you have to interview family, friends, strangers, whoever you think is important and ask them what their definition of the words 'family', 'friend', and 'love' are. Then, once you have completed your interviews, you will try and create a working definition from all of those that you receive. Everyone will present their findings during the last week of class and write a six-page paper on how words carry different meanings for different people.

"Now, for partners." Their teacher looked around the room and began to point out the different pairings. Maya sat there, praying that she wouldn't give her Lucas as a partner. Unfortunately, their teacher was actually nice and believed that working with friends made for a more enjoyable project and she also believed Lucas and Maya to still be friends.

"Lucas, Maya, you'll couple up for this project," she finally said, the two young kids being the last partnership she assigned. Before Maya could complain, the bell rang and everyone began quickly shuffling out of the classroom, eager to get to lunch.

"Ms. Teeman, I would really like to talk to you about the partner situation," she said desperately, as she tried to make her way through the stream of students.

"Maya, partners are final. Trust me, I put a lot of thought into who would work well together."

"But,-,"

"I'm sorry, but no changes. I think you'll produce an excellent project with Mr. Friar. I'll see you tomorrow in class."

Maya stood helplessly as her teacher dismissed her. She slowly gathered her things and made her way out of the classroom, following those who left before her. She didn't even notice Lucas standing outside the door, waiting for her, and she practically ran into him.

"Maya, we need to talk."

She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. "No."

"We have to do this project together, which means you have to talk to me."

Maya pushed past him and began walking toward the cafeteria. "No."

Lucas reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop. "Maya."

"I'm doing this project alone. I'll let you put your name on it so you don't fail the class, but I'm doing it by myself."

"Yeah, that's not happening."

"You don't really have a choice."

"Yes I do!" he said, his voice raising. "I'm not letting you do the entire project. That's not who I am. We're doing the project together, even if you hate me."

Maya could feel the anger rising in her and all she really wanted to do was slap him across the face. But she also didn't feel like spending the afternoon in detention. "Fine."

"Yeah?"

"Fine. But we are only doing the project. We're not friends and the only thing we will be talking about from this point forward is the project."

She waited a beat to make sure her words sunk in, and then spun on her heel, continuing on down the hallway to find Riley.

"So we'll talk later about starting the interviews?" Lucas called as she walked away, secretly very thrilled about this sudden turn of events. He needed a reason to talk to her and now he had it.

Maya clenched her jaw at his voice and, without turning around, flipped him off.

Which only made him smile more.


	5. Chapter 5

Enjoy! As always, reviews are appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own Girl Meets World.

* * *

 _February 1, 2020_

Maya's phone kept buzzing. It had been going off all day, but still she refused to answer. Instead, she angrily ignored it and focused on her drawings in front of her. She figured if she channeled her anger into her artwork, she maybe had a chance of not blowing up in front of everyone else.

Her mom had checked in on her a couple times, poking her head into her room to make sure she wasn't destroying the place, but otherwise, Maya had taken solace in the quietness of her bedroom. It wasn't pretty like Riley's, which is why she tended to avoid it, but today it was perfect. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, as the sun shone through the window. Maya had thrown her hair up in a messy bun and was wearing a large baggy sweatshirt—she hadn't even realized it was Lucas's until she had been wearing it for most of the morning.

It still smelled like him. She found herself unable to take it off. She was officially pathetic.

Maya listened as the vibrations rang loud again against the wood side table it was sitting on. She knew who it was without even having to look at her screen—though she couldn't help herself. She watched as his name flashed across the screen, along with the goofy picture she had taken of him several months ago, after he complained that everyone else had a picture, but him.

The picture was one of her favorites. Maya remembered taking the picture as he sat on her couch, his hair tousled and his face flushed, as they had just pulled apart from a heated make out session—one that had almost gone too far. He was smiling widely and his eyes were almost twinkling as he posed for the camera.

She also remembered that right after the picture was taken, Lucas had reached out and gently grabbed her waist, pulling her onto his lap. He had leaned his forehead against hers and kissed her softly on her lips.

But then he went and screwed it all up, leaving her with memories she'd rather not have.

And her phone wouldn't stop buzzing.

Maya groaned, finally fed up. She couldn't even use her phone, as it was going off every five minutes. She reached over and picked it up. "What?"

"Oh…you answered."

"Well you haven't stopped calling me all morning. It was getting annoying."

"Maya, we need to talk about the project. You've been avoiding me for the past two weeks, but we need to get started on our interviews. I'd really like to tell Ms. Teeman on Monday that we started." Lucas sounded angry, which only served to annoy her further.

"I told you I'd do the project on my own."

"And I told you that wasn't happening. I talked to Mr. and Mrs. Matthews. They're available today for us to interview."

Maya rolled her eyes, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Fantastic."

"Just meet me at Riley's at 4 o'clock, okay? And she wanted me to tell you that you're welcome to stay for dinner."

Then he hung up on her.

Maya pulled the phone from her ear and stared at her home screen. She couldn't believe he actually had the nerve to hang up on her.

"Jackass," she muttered, wanting to throw her phone across the room. She only had two more hours of seclusion before she was going to be forced to put on a happy face and act like nothing was wrong. Lucas was right, though she didn't want to admit it. They were supposed to be checking in every week with Ms. Teeman in regard to their progress and thus far, they had nothing.

Plus, the sooner they started the project, the sooner they could get it over with and she could distance herself from him.

She was holding her phone in her hand when it began to ring once again. She assumed who was calling without even looking at her screen. She put the phone up to her ear and yelled, "Stop calling me! Text, like a normal person!"

All she was met with was silence on the other end, which immediately concerned her. Lucas would have started yelling back. Maya quickly looked at her screen and saw that it was not Lucas calling this time, instead, it was his girlfriend. "Oh shit, Riles. I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."

"Oh…okay," she replied uneasily. "Um, who did you think it was?"

Maya scrambled for an answer before quickly saying, "Nobody. I mean, I thought it was my dad. He's been trying to contact me lately and I was annoyed. I promise a call from you is always a welcome one."

She could practically hear Riley's uncertainty through the phone, but her best friend seemingly believed her off the cuff lie.

"Oh okay," she said, much more cheerily this time. "Well, I'm glad the two of you are at least talking. I know it's taken you a long time to even get close to forgiving him."

"Yeah…" Maya trailed off awkwardly. "Anyway, what's up?"

"Lucas just told me that you're coming over here this afternoon for your project. You're staying for dinner right? My mom is making tacos!"

'Oh, I didn't know Lucas already told you, that was quick."

Riley laughed, "Well yeah, he's here right now, so he told me as soon as he got off the phone."

' _So that's why he hung up the phone_ ,' Maya thought silently to herself. He probably didn't want to get into an argument with her when her best friend was just in the other room.

"So, dinner tonight?"

Maya sighed, "Sure. Tacos sound great."

"Oh good! Why don't you just come over now? Lucas said it didn't sound like you were doing anything. And you can come hang out with us instead of listening to your dad call your phone over and over."

She silently groaned. She definitely should have seen that coming. "Riles, I'm kind of in the middle of drawing and stuff."

But Riley sounded stubborn. "No, no. I'm not taking no for an answer! Please come over. I got Lucas to watch a whole bunch of old John Hughes movies with me. I'll pause _The Breakfast Club_ until you get here!"

Maya knew there was no getting out of it. And it would definitely be weird if she tried _too_ hard to get out of it. She sighed, "Okay. Let me throw on some real clothes and I'll be over in thirty minutes."

Riley squealed, which made Maya smile. "Great! I'm pausing the movie until you get here. And I'll order a pizza. See you soon!"

She heard the phone click off and begrudgingly began to strip out of her comfy sweats and sweatshirt. She took a deep breath, dreading the rest of the afternoon and evening.

* * *

 _April 27, 2019_

" _You know you can't avoid me forever," Lucas whispered in her ear, as they sat on the couch in Topanga's. Maya froze and glanced around at their friends' sitting and talking around them—Zay was on the couch with the two of them, which forced Lucas to sit closer to her. Riley was in the plush armchair and Farkle was across from her._

 _None of them seemed to notice their interaction, nor that Lucas had casually placed his hand on her knee._

" _Lucas," she mumbled under in her breath in warning. "You're pushing it."_

 _He just grinned and gave her knee a squeeze. Then, he began to move his hand up her leg, slowly drawing circles on her skin, giving her goosebumps. He continued his motions as he turned back to the main conversation, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Maya gently laced her hand through his to stop his motions before someone in the café inevitably noticed._

 _Maya had been avoiding him over the past two weeks, he was right about that. The problem was, every time she was around him, every time she was near him, all she wanted to do was kiss him._

 _And Lucas didn't make it easy to forget that feeling._

 _For the past two weeks, Lucas always seemed to have a reason to be near her. He was always next to her on the couch, always had a hand on her back or an arm around her shoulder. Just casual enough to pass as a friendly interaction to someone who didn't know better, but she knew the message he was sending._

 _She really, really wanted to give in to him. She wanted to throw everything out the window and just grab his face and kiss him. But she had Riley to think about and she just wasn't sure if she could do that to her._

" _Maya?"_

 _Farkle's voice startled her out of her thoughts. She looked over at him to see he was looking at her expectantly—in fact, all of her friends were, including Lucas, who was desperately trying to keep a smirk off of his face. "Sorry, what?"_

" _We were just trying to figure out what to do today. Any ideas?"_

 _She quickly let go of Lucas's hand and pushed it off of her lap. "Oh, uh, I'm up for anything."_

 _Farkle was looking at her weirdly. At his angle, she realized that he must have noticed her action. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and quickly cleared his throat. "Okay, well, how about a movie? There's a couple new ones out that we could go see."_

 _Maya stood up from her spot on the couch and smoothed out her skirt. She needed to get away from the curious eyes of her very observant friend. "You guys figure out a movie, I need to go make a quick phone call. I promised my mom I'd check in."_

 _She walked past her friends, and headed out toward the fresh air. Once outside, she leaned up against the wall of the café and tried to take calming breaths._

' _Get yourself together,' she thought to herself. 'There is no you and Lucas, Farkle saw nothing, everything is fine.'_

 _As she stood there with her head against the wall and her eyes closed, she heard footsteps. She groaned when she smelled his cologne._

" _Hey," he said softly._

 _She looked up to see him smiling and rolled her eyes. "You weren't supposed to follow me, you idiot."_

 _He threw his hands up in defense as Maya swatted his chest. "You looked like you needed someone to talk to!"_

" _No, I came out here to get away from you."_

" _You could just make things easier and just talk to me."_

" _I'd really rather not."_

 _Lucas leaned against the wall, next to her and intertwined his fingers with hers. "Talk to me, please."_

 _She sighed, "I can't talk to you."_

" _I like you, Maya Hart."_

" _Shut up."_

" _Nope because it's true."_

" _You're supposed to like Riley!" she exclaimed in a hushed tone, glancing around to make sure none of their friends had come looking for the two of them. "And what happened a couple weeks ago? We were drunk, Lucas. We were both drunk and the alcohol made things fuzzy and it made the idea of us seem easy, but we're not easy. We are complicated and us having a relationship is not the way things are supposed to be."_

 _Lucas abruptly let go of her hand and brought both of his hands up to cup her face. "I wasn't that drunk. I like you, not Riley. If I liked Riley, I would be with her still. I wouldn't have broken things off with her and I wouldn't be standing here wanting to kiss her best friend."_

 _He was breathless, staring at her so intently, but she was at a loss of what to say._

 _So instead, she kissed him. She grabbed him by his shirt and pulled his body into hers. Maya felt his arms wrap around her and his hands roam her body._

 _In that moment, she was so happy they weren't talking._

* * *

 _February 1, 2020_

Maya sat with her legs crossed on the Matthews' couch, listening to Riley's parents talk about their ideas of love. Lucas had never heard their whole love story before, which meant that she had to sit through it again and, as always, they were so cute that it made her want to throw up.

"And then I proposed, right when we were all supposed to be throwing our caps into the air because Cory had become my family. So to me, your family is whoever you love, whether it's your best friend, your husband or your parents. Family can be whatever you define it as." Topanga smiled and leaned into Cory as he kissed her forehead.

"And what about you, Mr. Matthews? What do you define 'family' as?"

"Well Mr. Friar, my definition is probably very similar to Topanga's. My family is of course my parents and my sister and brothers. But then I met Topanga and she gave me another family, with Riley and Auggie."

"Don't forget Shawn," Topanga said, laughing.

"Oh, of course. Shawn, to me, is just as much my family as anyone else. So I guess, I feel like 'family' and 'love' are completely intertwined. People become your family as soon as you love them and maybe 'friend' is the step before those two things."

Maya smiled at the couple in front of her. They had opened up their arms and their home to everyone who had come their way. Starting with Shawn back when they were kids and now with her—Cory and Topanga had no trouble expanding their view of family to take care of all those who needed some extra family in their lives. They had made her feel like she was worth the trouble and she loved them for it.

She cleared her throat. "Thank you so much for sitting down with us and helping with our project. We really appreciate it, especially since it took almost an hour of your time."

"Yes, seriously thank you," Lucas interjected. "We got some really great material for our report. It's going to turn out great!"

"You're sure?" Cory asked. "Because if you need anything else from us, just ask. I know we didn't necessarily give you exact definitions of what you asked for."

"No, it's perfect, really," Maya said, encouragingly. "I already have a million ideas running through my head on how to present it."

Topanga clapped her hands together in excitement. "Great! I'm so glad we could help. I'm going to start getting dinner ready now—Maya, you're still staying, right?"

"For tacos? Definitely."

"Oh good. Okay, you kids go find Riley while I get things ready."

Lucas stood up and stuck his hand out to help Maya off the couch. She glared at him, but took his hand anyway, knowing they were in front of Riley's parents and it would look weird if she blatantly ignored the help.

Maya walked out of the living room and into the hallway, toward Riley's room. She tried to walk fast enough so that she would get there before Lucas stopped her, but she was unsuccessful.

"So that wasn't too bad, right?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "It was fine. One step closer to finishing the project."

Lucas grabbed her hand to keep her from walking away. "I'm sorry Maya, for everything."

"I know."

"Are you ever going to forgive me?"

She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I was fucking in love with you, Lucas. I was in love with you and you chose my best friend over me. So I'm hurt and upset and I hate you, so no, I'm not forgiving you. But as long as you make Riley happy, I can tolerate you."

"Maya,-"

"I told you, remember? I told you a long time ago that you were supposed to like Riley, that's the way it has always been. So, all of this? It really shouldn't surprise me."

Maya gave him one last glance before pulling her hand away and disappearing around the corner toward Riley's room.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry for the delay, once again. On a happier note, I'm officially a college graduate, so hopefully you all can understand my preoccupation over the past several weeks.

Enjoy the chapter!

 _Disclaimer: I don't own Girl Meets World._

* * *

 _February 28, 2020_

Maya wanted to bang her head against a wall as she stood in the middle of her room with her phone to her ear. "Lucas, chill out. Yes, I already interviewed my mom and Shawn. We don't have to do every single interview together."

"That's kind of the whole point of a project with partners, Maya! We should be sharing the work equally." His voice rang out clearly through the phone, as if he was standing right next to her.

"Simple solution, you interview your parents without me. Then, the work is still equally split up."

She could practically hear him roll his eyes. "Okay, fine. But we're doing the rest together. Can you at least tell me what they said in the interview?"

Maya groaned. "Fine. It was pretty much what you'd expect. Shawn talked about how the Matthews' essentially became his family when he was young, probably more so than his relatives. And he said he still considers his teacher who took him in, Mr. Turner, family, even though he wasn't with him for very long. It was a pretty strong theme of you don't need to share blood to be family, but you do have to have mutual love and respect for each other."

"Okay, that's good. It's a different kind of story which will be good to add into our paper," Lucas said.

"Yeah, and he also added in the story about his half-brother, Jack. He apparently didn't grow up with him and didn't even really know him until he became roommates with Mr. Matthews' brother. Shawn said it took a long time for Jack to feel like family, but when he did, it grew out of friendship rather than love."

"And what did your mom say?"

"You seriously want a play by play of our entire conversation?"

Lucas scoffed, "Well, considering you'd conveniently forgot to invite me over to interview them together, yes, I would like to know what they said."

Maya groaned, "My mom basically said her sense of family is limited to Shawn and me. She worked so hard to get out of Possum Trot and then she worked just as hard to raise me when my dad left, that she didn't have time to really make any close friends. There was no one there for her who had the potential to turn into family. She didn't have the time or the energy to love anyone enough for that to happen. Except for maybe Bobbi Jo, but that's it."

She could hear him typing in the background and waited for him to respond. "Okay, that's awesome."

"Can I go now?"

"Yeah, yeah. You know you could have avoided all of this if you had just asked me to come over and we could have done it together."

"You've made that abundantly clear, Ranger Rick. I have to go. Don't forget to interview your parents."

He sighed, "Fine. But I'm serious, tell me next time you decide to go solo. I'd like to be there too."

She paused as a thought came to her. "Wait a minute. Are you upset because you think I'm not good enough to ask people questions and take notes on my own? Is that what this is about? I'm not stupid, Lucas and I was willing to do this project alone."

"Yes, I'm worried you don't know how to ask simple questions," he replied sarcastically. "Don't be ridiculous. I just think our project will be a lot better if we have a seamless narrative rather than two different voices haphazardly woven together."

Maya narrowed her eyes, but she didn't want to argue the point anymore. She really wanted to get off the phone with him. "Fine. I'm hanging up now, so don't be offended." And with a click, she threw her phone down on her bed.

She then turned her attention back to her closet, which she had previously been staring at before being ambushed by Lucas screaming into her ear.

She had a date tonight and she had absolutely no idea what to wear.

Josh had called her the other day to ask her to dinner. Maya had a sneaking suspicion that Riley had something to do with his call, but she accepted the offer anyway, as it at least gave her an excuse to get out of her house and out of her thoughts.

But now she was staring at her closet at a complete loss. She really shouldn't care _this_ much about her outfit, but it wasn't like she hated Josh. In fact, there was a time, a long time ago, that she even thought she loved him. It may have been puppy love, but that attraction definitely did not go away.

And she could use some fun. It may not be the smartest idea to have her fun with Riley's uncle, but he was in college and currently the best choice.

Maya picked up her favorite dark blue dress, the one that fell right above her knee and had fabric that crossed across her back. But then she remembered it was February in New York City and freezing outside—there was a lot she was willing to do, but sacrificing her circulation for fashion was not one of those things.

She dropped the dress on the ground and threw herself onto her bed. She knew exactly what she needed to do and was not looking forward to the call. Quickly picking up her phone, she dialed the familiar number. "Peaches!"

"Hey Riles, I need your help."

"For your date? What's up? Do you need outfit advice?"

"I have absolutely no idea what to wear to dinner. Is it supposed to be casual? Fancy? Should I be in a bathing suit?"

Riley giggled. "He's taking you to his Italian place. It's pretty casual for the most part. How about your blue dress? You love that dress!"

"I thought of that but it's like zero degrees outside. I'm not wearing a dress." Maya continued staring at her closet, mentally throwing out every dress and skirt her eyes landed on.

"Fine, fine. Okay, what about dark jeans, your yellow flowy top and a leather jacket? You might be a little cold with the leather, but sometimes you have to sacrifice for fashion."

Maya couldn't help but laugh as she stood up from her bed and quickly displayed those items in front of her. "That's perfect. And I can always throw another jacket on top, maybe a long one. I knew you were the one to call."

"You know you can always call me! Are you excited for tonight?"

She laughed, "Excited? Sure, I guess."

"Well hopefully you'll actually show that excitement tonight? You've been waiting for this forever, what's up with you?" Riley asked with curiosity laced in her voice. "You definitely don't have to go if you don't want to."

"No, I'm fine. I'm probably just tired. I'll drink some coffee and be all set to go."

"I'm so excited for you!" the brunette squealed. "Call me as soon as you're home. I want all the details."

"You got it. I'll talk to you later, Riles."

Maya hung up her phone with a sigh. She hadn't been on a date in a very long time and she was really interested in seeing where the rest of the night went.

* * *

 _June 11, 2019_

" _I can't believe you're actually leaving me for the entire summer."_

 _Riley looked at her sympathetically and squeezed her hand tightly. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think I was actually going to get the internship. I mean, I'm still in high school and they generally only take college students. I honestly had no idea this was going to happen."_

" _I'm going to be alone!" Maya said dramatically. "Alone all summer in this huge city with nothing to do."_

" _You won't be alone! You'll have Lucas and Farkle and Zay! You love Zay! Plus, you'll be working at the café, so it's not like you won't have anything to do. But if you're really that worried, I can totally call Urban and say that it's not going to work out this summer, that I'm way too young to be working as an intern for them."_

 _Maya laughed and waved away her best friend's suggestion. "You're being crazy and I'm totally kidding with all my dramatics. Go to Philadelphia, take the fashion world by storm, and don't worry about me for a second. This is like the chance of a lifetime for you."_

 _Riley looked at her worriedly, but nodded her head in response. "I really am sorry for leaving. I feel like a terrible friend."_

" _You can make it up to me by convincing your company to stop producing really offensive pieces of clothing. I mean, seriously, I'm not shopping there until they get their act together."_

 _That made the brunette laugh and Maya gathered her into a tight hug. "Really though, have fun and change the world while you're at it."_

" _Yes, ma'am."_

" _Okay," Maya said, pulling away from the hug. "You're going to be late if you don't get going and your mom has been honking for the past five minutes."_

 _They quickly said their goodbyes and Maya watched as Riley gave her a smile and left out the café door. She took a deep breath and made her way back to the counter to resume her shift._

 _It couldn't have been more than five minutes later when she saw Lucas walk through the same door Riley had just walked out of. She groaned as he walked up to her. "Nice timing."_

" _You were the one who told me when she was leaving. I was just following your suggestion." He leaned up against the counter and flashed her one of his bright smiles. "So, Maya Hart, what do you want to do this summer?"_

" _Lucas…"_

" _Come on, Maya. You're biggest worry was Riley and now she's gone for a full eight weeks. Let's try this out, no pressure."_

" _Try what out?" Maya exclaimed, trying to keep her volume down as to not attract attention from any of the customers in the café. "We don't even know what we are."_

 _Lucas reached out and took her hand. "Go on a date with me."_

" _A date?"_

" _Yes, a date. I'll bring you flowers, you wear something nice, we go to dinner—we can just go on a normal date._

 _Maya looked at him thoughtfully. He was staring at her with such sincerity and warmth that she was finding it really hard to come up with any other answer than yes. "Okay, but no roses. I hate roses."_

 _He put his hands up in surrender. "I promise, no roses. I already know the perfect flower for you. So tonight, eight o'clock?"_

" _Yes, yes," Maya laughed, shooing him away. "I really have to get back to work. I'll see you at eight."_

 _Lucas leaned over the counter and placed a kiss on her cheek before heading back toward the door. He smiled and called over his shoulder, "Can't wait!"_

 _Maya just shook her head in laughter. She was in for an interesting summer._

* * *

 _February 28, 2020_

She pulled her coat tighter into her body as she stood outside the restaurant waiting for Josh to arrive. He had insisted on picking her up, but considering the restaurant was a couple blocks down from his apartment, she thought it was pointless for him to make the longer trip.

Luckily it was no longer snowing, as it had the night before, but there was a cold chill in the air. Maya couldn't help but compare this night to the night of her first official date with Lucas. In her mind, she could picture the June evening and feel the warm breeze.

He had brought her a bouquet of orange and pink Gerber daisies and took her to her favorite burger joint in New York. She was surprised at how at ease he made her feel, how easy it was to slip from being friends, or whatever they were, into an actual dating couple. It was like nothing had changed other than the fact that they were actually holding hands in public.

Maya had a feeling this date was not going down the same path, as Josh was now officially thirteen minutes late to their date at a restaurant that looked way too fancy and she had barely seen the inside yet. She checked the time once again and sighed.

"Fourteen minutes," she whispered to herself. "Great."

Suddenly she felt someone tug at her elbow. She turned around and saw Josh smiling at her, slightly out of breath. "Hey."

Maya raised her eyebrows. "You're late."

"I know, I'm sorry. I got held up by my roommate, he was talking my ear off about his girlfriend troubles. I promise I got here as fast as I could."

"Oh, okay."

Josh placed his hand on her back and gestured toward the entrance to the restaurant. "Ready?"

"Uh, sure," Maya said cautiously, allowing him to lead her inside.

It was going to be a long night.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks to those of you who reviewed! I really appreciate the kind words and support. _Jess_ , you made a really good point in regard to the relationship between Katy and Topanga and how I probably should have given more weight to their friendship. I think I was writing more in regard to Katy's past, though I think in my own writing bubble, I may have forgotten the premise of my own story (namely, with a time jump, I'm sure Katy and Topanga's relationship would have grown even closer than what was shown in the show). Oops! Hopefully that clears up any confusion for anyone else out there and, again, I appreciate everyone's feedback!

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Girl Meets World._

* * *

 _March 21, 2020_

Maya smiled as she listened to Eric Matthews recount his numerous romances through the years. She figured they weren't really stories that should be told to two kids in high school, but Eric didn't seem to care and she was definitely not about to stop him. She noticed that Lucas was even enjoying himself, despite his constant blushing.

"And Rachel, she definitely wanted me, but I decided to be a good friend and step away for Jack's sake. There's no way he would have been able to handle competing with me for much longer," Eric rambled on. He was seated on the couch at _Topanga's_ , with Maya and Lucas seated around him.

"Oh, I'm sure," Maya nodded. "So anyone in the picture right now? Any future Mrs. Matthews' on the horizon?"

"You know, I keep saying to myself, 'Kyle, you-,'"

Maya cocked her head and interjected, "Kyle?"

"That's what I call myself. Anyway, I keep saying, 'Kyle, you should find yourself a wife', but the life of a senator is a busy one and I just don't have the time."

"And are you okay with that?" Lucas asked.

Eric nodded, "Oh, definitely. I've got Cory and Pangers and the kids. And I have Jack, which means I have Shawn, which means I technically have your mom and you too, Moana. Of course, I also have my parents, Morgan, and Josh. The list goes on and on. I consider myself really lucky."

"Do you think you'll ever want kids?" Maya discreetly hit Lucas's arm after he asked his question. It was only a school project, they weren't supposed to act as Eric's therapists.

But Eric continued on which made her think the question didn't even phase him. "I'm actually thinking about adopting."

"Seriously?" they both asked simultaneously.

"Yeah. Not a baby, of course. I don't think the adoption people would give me one of those. But maybe a kid who is already ready to go."

"I think that's great. I'd love to have another kid around," Maya laughed, while looking down at her notes. "Well, I think we got plenty to include in our project. Is there anything else you wanted to add?"

"Yes, and this is important." Eric took in the two teenagers sitting before him, sensing the separation between the two and knew that they needed this advice as much as he did once. "Always remember: lose one friend, lose all friends, lose yourself."

Maya shifted uncomfortably in her seat as Eric had one of his rare moments of insightfulness. She felt Lucas's eyes on her and tried to avoid looking at him as much as possible, but couldn't help but glance his way.

Luckily, the moment was interrupted as Eric rose from his seat. "Well, I better get going. I think I was supposed to vote on something today, maybe that's why my assistant keeps calling me…"

Lucas rose from his seat as well and put his hand out to shake Eric's hand. "Thank you so much for helping us with our project. We've been interviewing a ton of people, but so far, your stories are the best. Both of us really appreciate it."

Maya smiled in agreement and walked him to the door of the café. Eric called out a quick goodbye to 'Pangers' before heading out. She then flung herself back on the couch. "Well that was entertaining."

"Yes, very," Lucas laughed in response.

She lay with her eyes closed, going over all the interviews they had already conducted. With their project due in just a couple of weeks, right before spring break, they soon had to step away from the interviews and actually put all their work together. "So when do you want to meet up to write the paper?"

If Lucas was surprised, he didn't show it. Replying nonchalantly, he said, "You think we did enough research first?"

"I think so. We have a ton of interviews to work with. So, uh, maybe we can work on it next weekend. I have some free time on Saturday."

"Okay, sounds good. Maybe we can come up with our own rough drafts and compare them when we meet up? It will probably save us time on Saturday."

Maya nodded and awkwardly crossed her arms across her chest. This was the most civil conversation they'd had in a while and she wasn't sure how to feel about it. It was strangely comfortable.

She began to open her mouth to say something, anything, to the boy sitting in front of her, but was interrupted by a bubbly Riley who had just walked in.

"How was Eric?" she asked excitedly, sitting down next to her best friend after placing a quick kiss on Lucas's lips.

Maya shifted uncomfortably in her seat as Riley sat down and said, "Uh, he was great. Eccentric as always."

"He is an interesting one. Did he call you Margie again?"

"No, today I was Moana. That one surprised me a bit, though I'm assuming just watched the movie or something. We'll see what he calls me next time."

Riley smiled, "I'm sorry I missed him, I tried to get here before he left, but I got stuck at home with Auggie. He found out we were going to the movies and was begging me to bring him along. Luckily my dad came in and saved the day."

"Auggie could have come, I wouldn't have minded."

"I wasn't really in the mood to see something animated. He'll be fine. Ava showed up as I was walking out the door, so I'm sure that she'll keep him entertained. But anyway, you have to tell me everything that's been going on with you and Josh."

"Oh, well-,"

"Of course, not too many details. He is my uncle and there's certain things I don't need to hear about him doing," Riley said, interjecting before the blonde could start.

Maya laughed and nodded. "It's been good. We've done dinner, movies, lunch, all pretty standard date stuff."

"But what about yesterday? Wasn't he planning something special? He was being really cagey about it."

"We went to MoMA and it was pretty great. He knew how much I loved it and I hadn't been in a while so it was a ton of fun. And then we ate at a Chinese restaurant nearby, so everything was really casual which is just what I need right now."

"So it was a good date?"

"Definitely kind of a perfect date."

Riley squealed, "Oh good! I mean, I gave him a few tips, but he is way smoother than I thought."

"He is pretty cute," Maya said, watching as a dreamy look crossed the brunette's face.

"What if you two get married? Can you imagine it? Your love story would be epic."

Lucas was extremely uncomfortable and cleared his throat awkwardly. His girlfriend shot him a look. "Don't be such a boy. We're talking girl talk. Go find Farkle if you don't want to listen."

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "Sorry I don't want to listen to the two of you talk about weddings. I'll go."

He rose from his seat and headed toward the door, leaving Riley confused behind him. She furrowed her brow and looked helplessly back at Maya.

The blonde sighed, knowing that if she caved to Riley, she would be stepping right back into an argument—which was a place she really didn't want to be. But her loyalty to her best friend won out and she said, "I'll go try and catch him."

She followed Lucas out the door, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to get into with him.

Maya didn't have to go very far to track him down. She could see his retreating back heading out to the street. She found it funny how so many of their arguments seemed to take place in the vicinity of _Topanga's_ , it was like a lightning rod for their anger.

* * *

 _September 1, 2019_

" _I can't do this anymore, Lucas."_

" _Don't say that."_

 _Maya sighed and leaned up against the café. She had known this argument was coming for a while, though she had done her best to avoid it. "I just can't do it."_

" _Things have been really good these past couple of months though, right? We've been happy."_

' _That's not the point! I've been insanely happy all the while lying to my best friend and listening to her talk about how much she still misses you and likes you. I'm an awful person and I can't do it anymore."_

 _Lucas reached out and pulled her body into his. He wrapped his arms around her and embraced her tightly. "Let's just tell her. She might be upset, but she can't be upset forever, Maya. She loves you and she'd be happy for us eventually."_

" _I've lied to her for so long. It would be different if this had just happened, but it didn't just happen and I can't tell her just part of the story. She is going to be so hurt and so disappointed and I just can't do that to her."_

 _She pulled away from him and wiped away the tears that were falling on her face. She hated that she couldn't have the best of both worlds, but she had been stupid enough not to tell Riley about Lucas in the first place, and to tell her now would only do more harm than good._

" _I'm not going to let you go," Lucas said strongly. "I'll tell her myself if you're not going to. If you really need her to know for us to be together, then I'll tell her."_

 _Maya frowned and took a step back from him. "I swear if you tell her without my permission, I will never forgive you and I will never be with you."_

" _Maya-,"_

" _No, Lucas. That's not something you can come back from. So I would implore you to think long and hard about what you want to do next."_

 _He threw his hands up in defense. "Fine, I won't say anything, but I really think you should."_

 _She narrowed her eyes, still upset over his threat. "I pretty much destroyed the best friend code over the past year and if she finds out, I will have fully destroyed the trust she has in me. I'm not blaming you. I take full responsibility for letting this go on without telling her, but I'm just so tired of hurting her over and over again."_

" _I know that you're sick of it. I know that you're terrified of the moment when she finds out what's been going on, but don't you think it will be so much better if she just knows? And we can start from a clean slate?"_

" _What am I supposed to say? 'Hey Riles, you know the guy you've been in love with since you first fell into his lap on the subway? I've liked him for like the past year and we've been seeing each other behind your back.' Yes, I'm sure that would go down great."_

 _Lucas sighed, "Well, you could put it a little more delicately than that."_

" _No matter how I say it, it's really going to suck. And I'm going to be a really shitty friend and I'm going to hate myself for a long time."_

" _So where does that leave us?"_

 _Maya gazed into his eyes and her demeanor softened. She really did love him, even if she hadn't told him that yet. And it was killing her knowing where they were probably headed if she couldn't bring herself to tell Riley about their relationship. So she replied with the only thing she could think of to say._

" _Honestly…I don't know."_

* * *

 _March 21, 2020_

He was walking fast, meaning she had to practically chase him down the street, which only added to her annoyance.

"Lucas!"

He turned around abruptly at the sound of her voice, obviously surprised that she had followed him. "What?"

She caught up to him and placed her hands on her hips. Glaring, she said, "What the hell was that all about back there?"

"What are you talking about?"

Maya threw her hands into the air in frustration. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe snapping at Riley? Or getting up and leaving in a huff? You really upset her."

"I just really wasn't in the mood for all the 'girl talk', as Riley put it. She told me to leave, so I did."

"Seriously? That's the explanation you're sticking with?"

"Considering it's the truth, I think I will," he replied, stubbornly.

"That's bullshit and you know it. You're jealous that I'm dating Josh and you were pissed we were talking about it in front you."

"Maybe I don't want to hear a play by play of your relationship, so what? That doesn't make me jealous. It just makes me a person who doesn't want to spend my afternoon listening to the two of you talk about it."

"Yeah, and that doesn't sound like you're jealous at all," Maya said sarcastically.

"Whatever."

Her eyes narrowed. "You don't get to be jealous. You are with Riley. You chose that. So you don't get to be pissed now that I'm happy with someone else."

Lucas scoffed. "Please, happy? You should see yourself when you talk about him. It's like you're dying of boredom. Trust me, I'm not jealous of that relationship at all."

Maya crossed her arms protectively across her chest as his words hit her. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep herself from truly blowing up. "Back off, Lucas. I'm serious."

"Screw you, Maya." Then, he rolled his eyes and walked away from her.

In the midst of their heated argument, neither of them noticed a very confused looking brunette watching them from down the street, who was experiencing the same pit in her stomach as she had felt watching the two of them dance together at last year's homecoming.


End file.
